Tokyo, July 21, 2015 – Rakuten, Inc. announced that it has started the sale of Print On Demand (POD) books today on its online bookstore, Rakuten Books, in collaboration with Impress R&D, an Impress Group company that is engaged in the electronic publishing business.
Print On Demand is a publishing method in which books can be printed and bound quickly through the use of digital printers, to meet orders of even just a single copy. This enables the flexible supply of books corresponding to demand, without the need to keep an extensive inventory. As such, the utilization of POD books is expected to contribute to streamlining management and reducing the costs of inventory management for publishers.
Using “NextPublishing,” a POD service provided by Impress R&D, several hundred titles produced by Impress R&D, including business and reference books, are now available to purchase on Rakuten Books. The titles sold will be restocked as necessary without ever running out, and will be shipped out on the same day that customer places their order.
In addition, the POD books can also be ordered from bookstores across Japan that use the Rakuten Books Express Delivery Service, a service provided by Rakuten Books for bookstores. Bookstores that use this service will be able to accept orders for POD book titles without having to stock the books themselves, and have the books shipped by the next day at the earliest, enhancing the convenience of the bookstores.
Going forward, Rakuten Books will continue to expand its line-up of POD books on the store and increase its product offering to meet the needs of both bookstores and customers.
July 21, 2015
- Rakuten, Inc.